Orlando Bloom leads new drama series Carnival Row

Legolas is headed back to the small screen. Variety has reported that Orlando Bloom, star of multiple franchises including The Lord of the Rings trilogy and The Pirates of the Caribbean series, has taken on a lead role in an upcoming Amazon drama, Carnival Row.

Bloom has had a prosperous career on the big screen but has also taken on some truly fantastic guest starring roles on television as well over the years. His guest starring turn as a needy and insecure version of himself in Ricky Gervais’s BBC series, Extras was a highlight. He also recently played a role in Andy Samberg’s Tour de France mockumentary on HBO, Tour de Pharmacy.

However, this is Bloom’s first series regular role, and not surprisingly, it occurs on a non-network, shorter run series. After all, the recent influx of money from deep pocketed tech companies (Netflix, Hulu, Amazon, etc.) earmarked for producing original content has allowed movie stars a lot of flexibility in pursuing their film careers while also increasing their presence on television as well. With just an eight episode first season, it is very likely that Bloom will be able to star in Carnival Row, while also continuing to act on the big screen.

Carnival Row takes place in a world described as a “fantasy noir set in a neo-Victorian city.” Bloom will star as Rycroft Philostrate, a police inspector who must solve the murder of a faerie showgirl in this fantasy world. This show would appear to blend modern elements along with the more fantastical, something that Bloom should have a great deal of familiarity with.

The show is written and executive produced by Rene Echevarria, a veteran television producer with many long running series under his belt. But perhaps his most well known (at least for me) is his role as producer of Star Trek: Deep Space Nine.

Carnival Row is scheduled to begin filming this fall for a 2019 release

About author

Brian Chu is a Staff Writer for Nerd Reactor and aspiring Jeopardy contestant. He thinks Picard is the best captain, Cumberbatch is the best Holmes, Bale is the best Batman, and Tennant is the best Doctor. Follow him @chumeister